Tom Ross on Lambert

It looks like former Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert is red-hot favourite to be the next Wolves boss and they could do a lot worse.

I had my ups and downs with Paul while he was at Villa Park but always found him to be a proper football man.

After he was sacked by Villa subsequent events changed my thinking about him and other managers who worked under Randy Lerner and Tom Fox.

It seems obvious he and others did not get the players they wanted but said yes to players put before them by the recruitment team.

They, of course, worked under parameters set by Fox and Lerner.

Whoever Wolves go for it has to be the right man as this is a massive appointment for the club – they simply cannot afford to get it wrong again.

17:42

Kevin Thelwell speaks

Kevin Thelwell

Kevin Thelwell, Wolves Sporting Director, added: “This has been a thorough and diligent process during which we have spent a lot of time interviewing different candidates and not only listening to what they have to say, but also talking about the culture of our football club, what we want to achieve and how we want to achieve it. “Jeff and Sky Sun and the owners have been involved in the process all the way through, and we are really pleased that we have come to a positive outcome and have all agreed on the decision to appoint Paul. “First and foremost Paul is a very experienced coach, and, as many people know, is a real student of the game. “He understands modern structures at clubs, has worked and been successful in the Premier League, and has also secured promotion from the Championship which is a league he knows very well. “All that background, along with what he said to us during the extensive interview process, have suggested that he is the right candidate who will be able to lead us forward. “We are also pleased to welcome Stuart to the club and pleased that having done an excellent job during this interim period, Rob will also be part of that wider backroom team to support Paul in his role.”

17:39

Stuart Taylor is the number two

He will work alongside Rob Edwards after being appointed first-team coach.

17:38

Jeff Shi on why Paul Lambert was appointed

“We are delighted that Paul has agreed to become our new Head Coach,” said Wolves main director Jeff Shi.

“He arrives at Wolves with extensive managing experience at different levels, in recent years in the Premier League and the Championship.

“Myself and Kevin (Thelwell) have spent many hours with Paul during the lengthy interview process, and have been very impressed with his thoughts on football and his vision for Wolves.

“Ourselves and Paul share the same vision and the same mission, to achieve promotion from the Championship as soon as possible, and then aim for a higher goal in the Premier League.

“That mission never changes, and we are doing everything possible to realise it.

“We strongly believe Paul is the key and long-term leader of Wolves to achieve our goals together with the team.

“I fully understand the expectations of the fans and I believe we have learned quickly in these last three months and are now moving in the right direction.

“To achieve success we now are now aiming to have a period of stability and all work together with persistence for our common goals.

“We welcome both Paul and Stuart to the club, and look forward to them working with the existing backroom staff at Wolves to take the club forward and higher up the Championship table.

“I would also like to thank Rob Edwards for the very professional way he has looked after the team over the last ten days, and I am delighted that we are also retaining his coaching talents as part of Paul’s backroom team.”

Jeff Shi representative of Fosun Group

17:36

Our Wolves fan pundit Ryan Leister is pleased.

Paul Lambert did an amazing job at Norwich and is still very well thought of by many at Carrow Road.

The former Borussia Dortmund midfielder took the Canaries from League 1 to the top flight in consecutive seasons and on Norwich’s return to the Premier League guided them to an impressive 12th place finish.

So if he could deliver similar at Wolves then I’m sure the Molineux faithful would be more than happy with that kind of progress.